


Proposition

by ohmyvalar



Category: Almost Human
Genre: F/M, Idk how to tag really, Kinda Crack, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 06:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyvalar/pseuds/ohmyvalar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Valerie have a proposition for Dorian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proposition

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read, so mistakes are mine and mine alone!

The next day when Dorian slid into his seat in the police-issue car, he noticed that John looked remarkably good. Not only in terms of his aura, but also because of an improvement in his general appearance. He wasn’t showing any extreme improvements in temperament, but there was definitely a change in his mood. As if he had let go of some emotional baggage. 

And Dorian could guess why. He could even guess who the perpetrator was.

"So, how was your date last night with Detective Stahl? Or is it ‘Valerie’, now?" Dorian teased the Detective as the latter started the car towards the station.

"It wasn’t a date," John muttered, "We just watched TV and drank bourbon." But Dorian could see his the not-so-subtle upturn of his lips. He smirked. 

John shot him a look. “Shut up.” 

After a short silence, John finally admitted, “Detective Stahl might have mentioned something about a… date.” He kept his eyes firmly on the road. 

Dorian raised his eyebrows. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was touched that John had chosen to reveal the piece of information to him. 

"And, ah, she also mentioned…" John’s voice slowed noticeably. Even without his mechanically superior hearing, Dorian could easily detect the change in his tone. Hesitation. What was John deciding -or deciding against- to tell him?  After repeated attempts to continue his sentence, John gave up. When he spoke up again, his voice was rougher, with the slightest hint of desperation and embarrassment in his tone which Dorian would have missed, DRN as he was, if he didn’t know John as well by now as he did.

"Look, you mentioned the other day that you wanted a place to stay." John said hurriedly, still pointedly not looking at Dorian. 

"Yeah…?" Dorian asked, puzzled by the sudden digression. 

"You could stay - I mean, you could stay at my house. Not - My apartment has enough space, we wouldn’t have to-" John stopped abruptly as the car braked at a traffic juncture.   
John sighed, and turned, almost reluctantly, towards Dorian. “What I meant is, you could stay. With me. If you wanted to, of course.” His eyes communicated the genuinity his words failed to ascertain. 

Dorian felt a very human urge to blink in shock. He had mentioned his discomfort in his shared quarters with the MX models to John, but he hadn’t expected John to offer his own living quarters. Besides… 

"And Detective Stahl suggested this?" Dorian asked. He was not familiar with the Detective as more than a colleague. He was touched, and more than a little shocked and even a bit suspicious that John and she had mentioned him during their conversation and even made such a suggestion. "You sure you’re not just using her as an excuse?" 

"What? No!" John replied, eyes back on the road, his body language clearly projecting agitation. "Look, if you don’t want to, I’ll ask -" 

"No, I believe you." Dorian interjected quickly. 

"So - so you’ll come?" John looked startled, but the emotion quickly translated to pleasure on his face. 

"Yeah." Dorian confirmed. Then, after a short pause, he added, "If you’re sure you don’t mind." 

"Of course not!" John replied. "Hey, it’s not that much of a big deal, really," John glanced at Dorian, who knew that he looked grateful. He was. Despite everything that John said to play it off, Dorian knew that sharing his apartment meant a lot more to him than John tried to show. 

If his brusque and unwelcoming demeanour when they had first met was anything to go by, Dorian was convinced that John harboured negative feelings towards androids. He had heard that Rudy had had to repair an MX which had dubious structure damages who had been John’s previous partner. 

Dorian knew enough about John to know that he lived alone, and had for some time now. He supposed that having an entire apartment to yourself could be lonely. Besides, Dorian enjoyed John’s company far beyond the confines of their compulsory working partnership.   
So Dorian just nodded his head. “So… Why did Detective Stahl suggest it?” Dorian asked cautiously, worried that John might misunderstand him and think that he was doubting him again. But Dorian really was curious about why the topic had come up. 

The question made John visibly uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat, grunting when his synthetic leg pressed against the car door. 

Dorian looked on expectantly. If John didn’t want to discuss the subject, he would say so. His reaction meant that he merely wanted to prolong his answer.

"Detective Stahl had… An opinion." John finally said.

"About me?" Dorian frowned.

"No, no! You know she wouldn’t do that!" John corrected quickly. "She had an opinion about… Our relationship." At the last word, John’s voice was so low that it made Dorian feel an unfamiliar feeling in his gut.

"Oh? What about us?" Dorian asked, ignoring the twinge of apprehension he suddenly felt. 

"She thought we were in a relationship." John admitted, "It’s the reason she hesitated to approach me." Then, seeing how silent Dorian was, he quickly added, "She made a mistake. I told her as much, but she wanted me to be sure. Look, forget I ever said this, all right?" 

Dorian was speechless. What did that mean? John wanted...? "John, I don't know what exactly I feel for you, but it definitely extends further than our partnership or friendship." Dorian said slowly, carefully choosing the correct phrasing for the meaning he wanted to convey. Instinctively, Dorian knew that this was a sensitive moment; to say something even slightly wrong could trigger a disastrous turn in their friendship. He didn't want to spurn John's attention, but was that even what John was trying to project to him? And how could he accept feelings that he wasn't even sure he could reciprocate? 

Throughout the weeks that he had met John, Dorian had grown close to the detective. He knew that in a human, developing romantic feelings would not be unheard of, much like the underlying attraction between John and Detective Stahl. 

However, as all of the partners of the human cops were MX models, romantic relations between partners were nonexistent in the precinct. Even in the past, when DRNs had been a common sight in stations, romantic relations between a human cop and a DRN had never occurred. With no prior knowledge of such a match, Dorian had no way to confirm and define what exactly he felt towards John. 

Besides, what about the newfound affection between John and Detective Stahl? Unlike with himself, Dorian knew for a fact that Detective Stahl had a certain degree of fondness for John and placed him above any other cop in the station, as the recent case had proved. And although John had never clearly stated his thoughts regarding her, Dorian knew that his partner, too, held affection for Detective Stahl. 

They were at the station's car park now, but neither of them were getting out. John was looking at Dorian, a strange expression on his face. Dorian frowned, trying to analyze what John was feeling, but before he could get any results, John had leaned in, and -oh. John was kissing him. 

Dorian let himself respond, parting his lips, giving John's tongue access into his mouth. John felt warm against his synthetically produced skin, and Dorian let himself savor the touch. 

Slowly, tentatively, John's hands came up to hold Dorian's shoulders. Dorian took it as a sign to step it up, and slid his tongue in, gently exploring the caverns of John's mouth. John's mouth tasted of a very faint washed-out and faded toothpaste and the remains of his breakfast. Dorian knew that his own would garner no taste for John, as he could not ingest anything, and to make it up, he decided to put all the knowledge -accidental or otherwise- that he had gathered from the internet to use. 

The surprised sound that John made from the back of his throat made Dorian smile involuntarily, and he could almost hear John calling him a smug bastard in his head. 

Dorian's hand reached out, resting on John's jacket. He slowly reached under it, coming to rest his hand on John's body, with only a layer of shirt separating them. They broke apart, John gasping for breath, but when Dorian's hand stilled, John shook his head, urging him on. 

John looked breathtaking, Dorian decided, blushing and flustered, his skin so much warmer under Dorian's hand, even with a layer of clothing lying between their flesh. But he knew they had to stop now. They were running late for work, and while John might not care about such details, Dorian's mechanical side gave him a systematic emphasis on punctuality. 

Dorian placed a last, almost chaste kiss right on John's lips, and then opened the car door, tossing over his back, "We're going to be late, John. Come on." 

Hearing John's indignant cry of frustration, Dorian shook his head, smiling, waiting for John to join him as he walked slowly to the lift. 

......

As soon as Dorian stepped into the station, his uncertainty and doubt returned, especially when he saw Detective Stahl. It wasn't an unfamiliar emotion; he felt such things during cases all the time, and he had always been able to efficiently sort them out with logic and instinct. 

But this was different. Dorian didn't have all the facts, and he could not think of John and Detective Stahl as victims or criminals in a professional capacity. 

Detective Stahl looked up from her work station, giving Dorian a smile. Dorian could see why John found her attractive; she was pretty and diligent, and Dorian had seen her in action, and had been impressed by her skills as a detective. 

Dorian smiled back politely, trying to hide the sudden wave of embarrassment he felt, knowing that Detective Stahl had caught him staring at her. 

Beside him, John picked up his pace, moving ahead to greet her. Dorian felt another unfamiliar emotion welling up in him as he saw them give each other a mutual smile, their bodies relaxing reflexively, even though the change was so slight that probably only Dorian and Detective Stahl's MX could detect it. 

Noticing Dorian's stare, Detective Stahl pointed at him over John's shoulder, a small smile dangling on her lips. John turned around, just in time to see Dorian hastily turn his head to the side. But even out of the corner of his eyes, Dorian could see John's exasperated smile. 

Dorian felt mixed feelings. How could John act so cosy and relaxed with Detective Stahl when he had just kissed Dorian in the parking lot not an hour ago? Whatever arrangement they had made privately the previous night surely had not diminished the attraction between John and Detective Stahl, so what was going on? Dorian did not believe that John would cheat on anyone, much less Detective Stahl, whom he had hesitated to approach for so long. 

Preoccupied with his thoughts, Dorian barely saw John approach him. "Hey, you okay? Detective Stahl invited us to dine with her for lunch." John told him, inclining his head towards the mentioned detective, who was now conversing with her MX. 

"Yeah, man, okay." Dorian could sense that he wouldn't get much out of John now willingly, and he didn't want to push their level of trust. 

John looked sideways at Dorian, his gaze questioning and slightly worried. "You look... Weird." He finally commented, when Dorian did not make any form of communication. 

"How so?" Dorian asked, just the right amount of casual in his tone. 

"I don't know, you seem moody. Or maybe distracted. Hey, seriously, did I push something with, ah, that kiss?" John asked, worry tinging his tone, stopping entirely in his tracks to look into Dorian's eyes. 

Dorian looked down, trying to avoid eye contact because he was sure his confusion would be obvious. "No, it was fine. I enjoyed it." He replied, and immediately regretted it. His tone was too clipped. 

Sure enough, John huffed in disbelief. "Wait a second, are you jealous?" John exclaimed, his voice incredulous. Dorian looked up irritably. Yes, because you won't stop keeping a secret of what you and Detective Stahl have now, and I don't feel secure, he wanted to say, but he stopped himself. 

Guessing his thoughts, John sighed. "Look," He said, holding up a hand, "I know you're confused, but trust me. I don't know how to say this, but... Detective Stahl will explain later. Do you trust me?" 

Dorian looked up, and because this was a question he didn't need to process, replied, "What sort of question is that?" 

John paused for a moment, looking caught off guard. Dorian didn't know what his eyes displayed, but John looked shocked by it, even touched. A warm and hopeful smile played across his usually sarcastic or grim features. Dorian's heart swelled and he felt an aching yearning in him. 

"Then wait. I promise, you'll understand everything soon." John promised. 

With that, Dorian was left to deal with the rest of his shift with the strangely torturous feeling of both anticipation and dread. 

.....

Noon approached slower than Dorian would have thought possible, even though he knew that there were no errors with his internal clock. 

When he stepped into the cafeteria with John, he immediately saw Detective Stahl at a table. As ever, she was sensitive to his gaze and looked up, waving the duo over. 

As John and Dorian settled into their seats around the table, Detective Stahl exchanged a quick knowing look with John before turning her attention to Dorian. 

"Dorian. John and I have a, umm, preposition for you." Detective Stahl's said directly, even though Dorian detected a hint of apprehension in her abrupt spike in blood levels. Beside Dorian, John shifted in his seat to look directly at him. 

"What is it, Detective?" Dorian asked. 

"Oh, you can call me Valerie!" She replied with laugh, and the tense atmosphere dissipated with the sound. John visibly relaxed. 

"John and I were thinking... Last night, we," Valerie reached out a hand and John caught it in his, "Well, we expressed our feelings. But I wanted him to be sure that he was making the right choice." 

Dorian listened, confused by this revelation. While John had told him something along the same lines of this conversation just hours ago, Dorian could not comprehend what the two were trying to convey. 

Valerie sighed, and Dorian guessed that she had judged from his expression that he did not understand. The sound didn't seem annoyed so much as embarrassed. 

"I wanted John to be sure that he wanted to be with me, instead of having a shot at a relationship with you, Dorian." Valerie finally explained. "And then... John told me in the morning that you do have feelings for him. So we were wondering..." Again, she looked to John for confirmation. 

Dorian saw John nod. Some part of Dorian squeezed and twisted when he saw how in sync they were, how compatible and how well fitted together they were. Dorian had never felt the need to complain about any part of his design; had always been well satisfied with his endowed abilities, had even felt proud of the differences from the MX models. But now, seeing John, his partner, and Valerie together, so human and natural, made Dorian feel sad. 

He would never be able to give John a normal relationship, even if John still wanted to have one with him. He could never give John the pride of having a beautiful and capable and human partner like Valerie could. Dorian couldn't even be sure that what he felt for John was love. He had felt attraction before; simple appreciation of beauty, much like what he felt for Valerie on a superficial level. 

But this was different. It was... Well, it was John. John wasn't anything like any other human he had been paired up with before. He wasn't sure how much of his feelings were because of that fact, or if it was just a typical reaction of... The human emotion known as love. 

A hand reached out to hold Dorian's clenched fist. He didn't have to look up to know that it was John's, even without his sensors at full potential. The feeling of John was familiar enough to Dorian. 

"Dorian." John said seriously, his eyes roving to scan Dorian's face, a gesture Dorian had always loved about his partner. It never failed to convey the care and concern John sometimes failed to express with his words, and Dorian had seen it a hundred times when John was questioning victims' relatives, would not tire of seeing it a hundred more. Beside John, Valerie put a hand on Dorian's other fist, which had relaxed mostly. 

"Maybe this is really much too abrupt, but we like each other, and I know that you have feelings for John, Dorian. We were... Hoping if you would join us." Valerie admitted. 

Over Dorian's heart didn't exactly jump in his chest, but he definitely felt a spike in his adrenaline levels. "Are you proposing that I... Join the two of you in a romantic relationship?" Dorian asked, his mind still racing wildly, even though all possible logical catalysts and outcomes had already been outlined in detail in his mind. 

Dorian saw Valerie and John exchange a panicked glance with each other. Valerie looked upset and shocked, while John looked resigned and wistful. Glancing sideways at John, Valerie opened her mouth as if to speak, then seemed to change her mind and closed it, her gaze worried. 

"Look, Dorian, I -" John started, then growled in frustration. "I know it's too late to change anything, and it would be unfair to tell you to just forget it, but please. Please tell me that we can go back to being at least partners."

The action tugged at Dorian's heart, and he felt the inexplicable and irrational urge to laugh at how badly he had misjudged the situation. He kept himself in check at the last moment, knowing that laughing now would would only aggravate the mistake. Worse, he knew that John would never forgive him for it. 

"But why?" Dorian couldn't help blurting the question out. Now that his insecurities had been settled and he had even been offered a suggestion that he had never even, for all his capabilities to think of endless possibilities, thought about, he was curious. "Why would you... Valerie, I mean no offense, but we have not interacted much. And you and John have clearly decided to be in a relationship. Why would you even consider the idea of asking... Me?" 

Valerie's face lit up with a beautiful smile. John's expression slowly transformed, and he looked about at no one in particular, as if he couldn't believe what he had just heard. It made something deep in Dorian hurt, that John thought that he wasn't worthy, even though they all knew just how wrong that thought was. Looking upon Valerie's relieved smile, Dorian could completely understand why she was in love with John. 

"Well, I think you underestimate your own... Appeal, Dorian." John finally said, his tone grudging, seemingly no different from his usual voice, but Dorian could detect the slightly rough edge in it from ragged emotion. 

Dorian raised an eyebrow, looking quizzically at Valerie. He had assumed that like most of the rest of the precinct, Valerie would not have considered an android, however built to resemble humans, to be a possible love interest, even in passing attraction. Valerie's cheeks flushed, but she did not look away, only dropping her gaze slightly to give a small smile that quickly spread. 

"Are you sure?" Dorian hesitated. This was something he had no reference for, something he had never even envisioned. He could not be sure that he was making the correct choice here, what his acceptance would bode for all three of their futures. 

Both Valerie and John seemed to notice his hesitation and understand the reason behind it. "Dorian. I know you said that you weren't even sure what you felt..." John started, and Dorian disagreed. After Valerie and John's combined confession, Dorian had certainly felt something much stronger, especially with John, and he felt that he was sure enough of it to label it as loving affection. 

"... But we could try. We were already prepared for a rejection, so I think we can bear another in the near future. If you feel as we do, that if we didn't try this even once, we would regret it for a long time..." Valerie finished, looking earnestly at Dorian. 

Dorian looked at John and Valerie in turn. Valerie was right. If Dorian didn't take this opportunity... Every time he saw Valerie and John together, he would feel like they could have had something more. And this, this proposal... It would hang forever in between him and John, a reminder of an awkward conversation that they would never really move on from. Even if this didn't work out... Dorian didn't think the imminent heartbreak would hurt as bad as the torture of not knowing what he, they, could have had. 

"Yes." Dorian finally said, and the palpable relief on Valerie's face made Dorian smile. But it was John's face... John's face was an open book of a mixture of feelings, either because he wasn't trying, or more likely because he was genuinely overwhelmed. Dorian watched as disbelief and elation warred on his partner's face. On any other occasion, Dorian would have been amused by the almost comical effect it created, but just this once, Dorian felt an overflowing bout of joy flood his senses. 

He wasn't going to lose John, Dorian suddenly realized. Perhaps he had never admitted it to himself, but while he wanted John and Valerie to be happy together, he had always had an underlying fear that the moment John and Valerie started a relationship would be the moment Dorian would lose John. 

Dorian looked at John again. His partner -and lover, now, Dorian realized with a rush of something indescribable- had schooled his face into something that more resembled his usual emotions. Valerie, on the other hand, was looking at both John and Dorian with a certain fondness in her eyes. 

Dorian turned to her, and Valerie turned instinctively to look at him. "Valerie," Dorian started, then stopped, awkward. He admired and definitely found Valerie attractive on a certain level, and he was certain deeper feelings, although he couldn't pin them down as what, could develop if they spent more time together. But how was he to express that? Just a few hours ago, he had expected to congratulate her and John. 

As always, Valerie showed the perceptiveness that made her a valuable asset to the precinct. "I know," Valerie reassured, letting the right amount of amusement show on her face. Not too much to possibly offend Dorian, but enough to let Dorian know that she truly understood and warned to further their relationship, too. 

Sitting there in the cafeteria, with two of his fellow officers -no, they were so much more- at the table, Dorian felt that indescribable emotion again. He still didn't know what it was, but he hadn't felt that warm feeling in a long time, even before he had been decommissioned. 

It felt like home.

**Author's Note:**

> I would've wanted to add more content for Valerie and Dorian's relationship, but alas.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
